Originally released in 2013, this cigar happens to be named after Drew Estate founder Jonathan Drew’s favorite food, French Fries (their direct translation), due to its rich tastiness. Created at Drew Estate’s La Gran Fabrica factory in Estelí, Nicaragua, the tripa corta (“short-fill”) Papas Fritas boasts a coffee-bean-colored Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro wrapper over a Brazilian Mata Fina binder, with Grade A-1 Nicaraguan and Honduran filler tobacco trimmings from the production of other famed Liga Privada blends inside.
Medium-to-full-bodied, with medium strength, the Corona-sized, pig-tailed Papas Fritas sticks may not look elegant, but, like diminutive French Fries, they’re definitely a guilty pleasure. Flavors on offer include black pepper, cherry, coffee, and leather, with some floral notes floating around as well.
At four and a half inches in length, with a 44 ring gauge, the Papas Fritas come in small snack-like tins of four cigars apiece. The burn is sharp, the draw is superb, the finish is pleasant, and the ash is white and tight. For a short-fill smoke, these sticks are complex, revelatory, and nothing short of game-changing. For cigar aficionados, there’s enough going on with these sticks to satisfy, and then some. If you’re looking for the cigar equivalent of a “snack,” you just found one.